Cigarette display and dispensing cabinet



April 12 1927. 1, 3

J. G. ALLEN CIGARETTE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING CABINET Filed July 11 1924 Patented Apr. 12, 1927.

UNHTED STATES JACOB GUY ALLEN, F BELVIDEBE, ILLINOIS.

CIGARETTE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING- CABINET.

Application filed July 11,

Th s invention relates in general to cabinets for displaying and dispensing packages of cigarettes and the like.

The primary purpose of my invention is to provide a cabinet of this type especially adapted to be set on top of a counter or showcase so that the particular brand or make of cigarettes carried. in the cabinet will be displayed to the prospective customer and in which is embodied ejecting means whereby the packages are adapted to be dispensed only by manual operation of an ejector at the rear of the cabinet. According to my invention the front of the cabinet is transparent to display a series of vertical package compartments and an individual ejecting device is provided for each compartment for ejecting through a discharge opening in the front of the cabinet the lowermost package in any selected compartment.

Another purpose is to provide a cabinet of the character Edescribed which is constructed in such simple manner that 1t may be produced at a comparatively low cost and which will be thoroughly practicable for the purposes intended.

Referring to the drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet embodying my invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through one of the package compartments and its ejector.

The cabinet proper may be constructed in any suitable manner so as to embody the characteristics essential to my invention. In the present instance the cabinet comprises a box-like frame having a baseboard 3, side walls 4:, a top 5, a back 6 hinged at 7 to one of the side walls t, and a transparent front 8 at present glass retained in position by molding strips 9 and a crossbar 11 which is positioned sufficiently above the baseboard to provide a discharge opening 12. The space within the cabinet is divided into a series of narrow compartments by vertical partitions 13. Each compartment is of such size as to hold a stack of cigarette packages, each lying flat, the packages in this instance being supplied to the compartments through the opening in the back.

A separate device is provided for each package compartment for ejecting the lowermost package through the discharge open ing 12 each such device including an ejector projecting rearwardly above the cabinet and adapted to be operated at will by the 1924. Serial No. 725,335.

attendant. In the preferred form of my invention the ejector comprises a plunger 14; slidable in a hole 15 bored in the baseboard i and having an upstanding finger 16 passmg through a slot 17 in said baseboard so as to engage the rear edge of the lowermost package. The plunger lat extends rearwardly through a stationary base part 18 at the back of the cabinet, which part is recessed at 19 for the reception of the finger 16 as shown in Fig. 2. An expansion spring 21 in the bore 15 constantly urges the plunger 14 to its rearward position limited bv contact of the finger against the base part 18. An ejecting device similar to this is provided for each package compartment.

From the foregoing it will be manifest that by pressing forward any plunger it will eject the lowermost package from its compartment and that the spring 15 will return the plunger so as to permit the stack of packages to gravitate and position the lower most package in front of the finger A device of the character described may be used as an advertising medium for dis playing different makes 01- brands of cigarettes. By reason of the comparatively low cost of producing these cabinets they may be sold at a reasonable price and used in many lnstances where cigarettes are now kept in drawers or on shelves and are not displayed 1n counter or showcase cabinets because of the comparatively high cost of cabinets heretofore provided with dispensing devices.

It is believed that the foregoing conveys a clear understanding of the objects prefaced above and while I have illustrated but a single working embodiment it should be understood that changes might be made in details of construction ,without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim, in which- I claim:

A dispensing cabinet of the character described comprising a cabinet body having a base board, a plurality of package compartments separated by vertical partitions, the back of the cabinet body being openable for filling said compartments, the front of the cabinet body being open at the bottom of each package compartment just above the base board, the base board being provided with an ejector bore extending forwardly from the back beneath each package compartment, an ejector plunger shdabie in each bore, means normally tending to move said plungers to retracted position, the base board being slotted through the top so as to inter- 5 sect each ejector bore, and an upstanding finger on each plunger extending through and above its slot into the adjacent package compartment and adapted for engaging the rear end of a package for ejecting it, the said fingers being arranged to engage stops: to limit the retracting movement oi: said plungers.

JACOB GUY ALLEN. 

